Ed Brubaker wastes no time in reminding readers why the Marvel Universe is better with Steve Rogers in it.

Reading the first issue of Captain America: Reborn went a long way in explaining the true purposes of the last few months of Captain America. Cap #50 was a worthy celebration of Bucky’s successful career as the bearer of the blue cowl. #600
shed the final tears for the memory of the fallen American hero, and
punctuated the state of the world in the hero’s void. As a celebration
of his memory, the story worked well. As the singular object of
marketing hype, and subsequent scrutiny, it was a bit light on action.

Well Reborn doesn’t have that issue.

Bryan Hitch proves to be a brilliant choice to draw this Cap saga. His
penchant for widescreen action gives the visual emphasis and `oomph’
needed to differentiate between this series and the regular Captain America
ongoing. That title’s remarkably consistent visual tone and tenor has
worked well to play up the story’s espionage aspects, but while Butch
Guice’s embellishments here carry a hint of artistic continuity from
those pages onto these, the blockbuster visual pitch and bombastically
stunning splashes are trademark Hitch-ian. Like a Hollywood superstar
in a leading role, Hitch’s presence carries a gravitas and expectation
of quality on a project. This goes a long way in explaining why it made
sense editorially to offer this as its own miniseries, as the art
itself basically distinguishes itself as “event-worthy.” Of course, as
creators plead with readers to understand, an “event” is little more
than trade-dress for an especially noteworthy story. The important
thing is if it makes for good comics. Let’s just hope it ships on time.

During his tenure as king of the world, Tony Stark was a prominent
figure in this book. It made sense; Captain America has always had some
sort of relationship with the foremost military figure on the planet,
as he did with Nick Fury. Well nowadays, that means Norman Osborn.
Given his druthers, Bucky will opt to play towards the shadows, and
avoid overt confrontations. But the role of Captain America demands a
willingness to openly fight the good fight. Further, now that the
once-Green Goblin has draped himself in Cap’s colors in an attempt to
subvert and bastardize the icon’s image, it was only a matter of time
until he was forced to face off with Cap’s crew. Finally, Osborn has
managed to find an entry point to the arch-nemesis club that have
haunted this entire creative run, and thus made himself into an
adversary worthy to be featured in the story of Steve Rogers’ return.

But where is Cap? Where has he been? And what will be the vehicle of
his return? Well I’m not going to spoil the whole damn thing, but Bru
and crew stay true to their promise to tell a story that plays within
the parameters that they’ve built. It is a mechanism that will be
familiar to savvy pop-cultural experts, and doesn’t take the easy
bailout of “Hey, don’t we have a Cosmic Cube…?” This issue’s opening
salvo gives us a little the lay of the land for Cap’s associates, with
Bucky, Black Widow, Sharon Carter, The Falcon and even Nick Fury
working in cohesion to piece together the plan to resurrect their
fallen friend. The scope of this story resonates on each and every page.

Cap has been gone a long time, so it is jarring that the return of his
voice on the page again is so noticeably innately reassuring. These are
dark days, but the war isn’t over yet. Hope, Brubaker, Hitch, Guice,
and Mounts promise, is Reborn.